Li Bingbing set a record!
The sci-fi action-adventure blockbuster "The Megalodon" starring him and Jason Statham has recently landed in North America. It earned $16.5 million on its first day of release and $44.5 million on its first three days, easily winning the weekend box office championship.
The film not only set the highest opening score of Warner Bros. in North America this year, but also pushed Li Bingbing to the throne of the first Asian actress to star in the North American box office history.
At the same time, "The Megalodon" was also successful in the domestic market. Under the attack of the topical domestic films "A Good Show" and "Love Apartment", the box office continued to rise, with a box office of 347 million yuan in three days. On Sunday, it surpassed "Love Apartment" and won the runner-up at the box office.
At present, the global box office of "The Megalodon" has reached 140 million US dollars in the first week. Compared with its cost of 178 million US dollars, it is a very eye-catching achievement. This is also the most successful Sino-US co-production in history so far.
Such a result was unexpected.
Because since Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" in 1975 fired the first shot of the shark thriller genre and became a classic among fans, it seems to have become a "swan song" in a sense. , Although the subsequent shark thrillers emerged in an endless stream, there were almost no popular ones, and many even became representatives of bad films, such as "Sharknado".
Even the "Shark Shore", which was regarded as a work of hearts the year before last, received a mediocre response. Blake Lively's play was brilliant, but for a shark movie fan, the shark play in it was not exciting enough.
Therefore, "The Megalodon" was not optimistic before it was released, but now, it can be said to be far beyond expectations, which is very pleasant.
So, what is so good about "The Megalodon" that makes it so popular?
The story frame of the film is very simple, and it can even be said to be quite old-fashioned. When a company engaged in marine scientific research was exploring in the deep sea, it was attacked by an unknown creature, and then it was discovered that it was a prehistoric animal that should have been extinct long ago. This is where the shark war begins.
The whole story sounds pretty much the same as 2004's Prehistoric Sharks. (This is also another important reason why I am not optimistic about it before the screening)
However, the story frame has never been the key part of a shark thriller. The audience who went to see a shark movie wanted a beautiful shark scene and a human shark counterpart.
In this piece, "The Megalodon" can be said to be very successful.
Let's talk about the shark first.
The main purpose of shark play is to create an atmosphere of horror and panic, and to make the audience feel the threat it brings. In "Jaws", the director fully stimulated people's imagination by letting the shark "see the head but not the tail" to scare himself. This trick is very classic, but it is also outdated. sprayed to death.
"The Megalodon" cleverly captures the "bigness" of the megalodon to make a fuss (the megalodon is much larger than the great white shark), divided into four steps, so that the audience can clearly feel an unimaginable giant.
First of all, let the megalodon collide with the small submarine. Although it did not show up at this time, the situation of the people inside the boat turned over, which can reflect the tonnage of the megalodon very intuitively - it's really big!
Secondly, we saw that the megalodon swam almost close to Li Bingbing's head for several seconds. This upward shot directly reflects the length of the megalodon - it's big enough!
Again, a very shocking frontal shot. In the picture, the huge glass wall of the scientific research institute occupies 90% of the screen position. The megalodon is swimming in front. We can't see its body, only its huge head. Facing the glass wall with a strange expression, standing below is a petite little girl. Under the double comparison, the width of the megalodon is also clear at a glance - it's really big!
In the end, the megalodon slammed into the glass, and the entire scientific research institute was slightly shocked, leaving its teeth marks on the glass. This scene not only emphasized its super bite force, but also pointed out the height of the megalodon from the side. The tall man stood in the upper and lower rows of teeth marks, and there was still a lot of white space— - Really big enough!
Since then, the megalodon has cast a huge shadow in the hearts of the audience, and a terrifying atmosphere has risen.
Besides, the human shark rivalry.
This part should be the most exciting part of the film, but it is also difficult to shoot, because too many similar subjects have been filmed, and the audience's psychological threshold has been pulled high, so there must be new ideas, but sharks attack people, in addition to With a grin and a bite, there will be no special tricks, so it must be carefully designed with the help of the props in the scene.
The human shark counterparts in "The Megalodon" are all designed very innovatively.
My favorite is the part where the shark cage is released.
The shark cages I have seen before are all like iron cages, and then they will deform under the collision of sharks. After the distance between the two railings is widened, the people inside are in danger. Last year's "Shark Sea" in "Shark Sea" It's really boring to play this one.
But this time, a glass-like closed cage was put into place, which was very novel. The megalodon shark tried several times, but it didn't crack, but Li Bingbing who stayed inside was already rolling back and forth. Because it was a transparent cage, the audience could see from the outside. Seeing the situation inside the cage, the film took a long view. What we saw was Bingbing swaying in the small cage, next to a big scary megalodon, and the scene was very powerful.
The scene where Jason Statham rescued Li Bingbing was also very interesting. He swam forward with Bingbing in his arms and saw that the megalodon was about to bite the two of them. At the critical moment, he was hooked by the iron anchor and chain on the boat, and the shark did not die. The heart is still twisting forward desperately, and it instantly forms a picture of a close confrontation between the human sharks, which is very nervous and exciting.
This kind of bridge has been seen in many films, but it is the first time I have seen it on a shark, and it is very novel.
Jason Statham singled out the Megalodon, and with the shark's body jumping out of the water, although the hanging is a bit big, comparable to the Indians, the scene is really beautiful and thrilling.
The rest, I will not count them one by one.
With the beautiful shark drama and the human shark rivalry, the film is basically a success. The next step is to deal with the life and death of the characters. The supporting role should not die, the shark should not die weakly, and the protagonist should not be treated differently by the shark. Luck...these Megalodons are all qualified.
In addition, the rhythm of the film's plot is also very well grasped, and it makes people nervous every few minutes, which is very cool!
In this way, it is not uncommon for "The Megalodon" to be a big seller, not to mention that the shark film itself is a big IP with countless fans.
However, the flaws of the film are also obvious, that is, the characters' opponents are too bad. Li Bingbing and Jason Statham, Jason Statham and the little girl, Li Bingbing and the little girl, Li Bingbing and Zhao Wenxuan, there is no pair that can really stand up and make people feel embarrassed.
If you really want to inject a deep emotional trace into the story, I personally think that you can only keep a pair of CPs, so that you can accumulate feelings in the limited length of literary drama.
Of course, this is a trivial matter. After all, what everyone sees in the theater is sharks and thrillers, not human feelings and emotions. The shark film is definitely worth the price of the ticket.
Finally, congratulations to Bingbing for setting a record! The whole English dialogue is not awkward at all, it's great!
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